MOSCOW, November 14. /TASS/. Western countries have substituted fact-based journalism for reporting baseless news, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on its Facebook page on Thursday.
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A screenshot was attached to the post of a MailOnline article with a provocative headline "Why DO so many Russia’s enemies plunge to their death from balconies?" What do those who fell to their death like Olga Kotovskaya, a journalist from Kaliningrad, a British property developer named Scott Young and the founder of the White Helmets group James Le Mesurier all have in common? The newspaper alleges that all these people, having no links whatsoever, who lost their lives at different periods of time and under different circumstances, were killed by Russia.
"This is what the British Daily Mail is hinting at," the ministry said. "This article was a continuation of a series of publications by UK tabloids on the death of Le Mesurier, or to be more precise on the supposed "Russian hand" in the death of the British secret service officer," the Foreign Ministry stressed.
"This overall ‘liberalization’ has taken a nasty toll on the quality of media. Fact-based journalism has given way to the journalism of opinions, and moreover unsubstantiated ones, in the ‘highly likely’ vein," the ministry lamented. "They don’t need facts, they need emotions. An investigation is still underway, but British journalists are already busy with accusing ‘those Russians’.
Moscow noted that the founder of White Helmets, whom the newspaper dubbed ‘a quiet British hero’ had been talked about in Russia for several years now. "At least 120 news items have been published since 2016, mentioning the cynical crimes by the White Helmets," it said. Le Mesurier’s role in that questionable project was also mentioned, it added. "But Western journalists prefer turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to things that don’t fit with their usual depiction of the world," the ministry stressed.
With this in mind, it recommended that all western media outlets accredited in Russia and interested in that topic attend a news conference on November 20 by Director of the Russian Foundation for the Study of Democracy Maxim Grigoryev who will focus on the activity of the White Helmets in Syria and the refugee situation in the Rukban camp.